We are facing a critical time in our nation’s history as we encounter rapidly evolving challenges in health care, our environment, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Fortunately, America’s leading research universities are generating some of society’s biggest breakthroughs and technological advancements that improve our quality of life. However, the United States risks falling behind in innovation and losing its place at the forefront of solutions to the most pressing issues without continued funding for research.

The recent announcement that research funding awarded to the University of South Florida last year reached a record $692 million is promising news for the Tampa Bay region and the state of Florida. The continuing impact of USF’s research enterprise was one of the primary reasons we were invited last year to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), a prestigious group of the top 71 public and private research universities in the U.S. and Canada.

That’s an important point, as federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense rely on universities to perform critical research in the national interest, especially AAU member institutions, which collectively conduct 64% of all federally funded research.

None of the advancements made through this research would be possible without resources — both human and financial — the world-renowned expertise of our faculty and the dollars we receive from the federal government. As members of Congress will soon begin conversations about their next budget, it’s important to prioritize the ability of universities nationwide to solve even more grand challenges, meet workforce needs and continue to grow the economy, which all depend on greater levels of federal support, especially in science and technology.

That support also is essential to the United States’ ability to remain a global leader in science and innovation. In the mid-1960s, the overall share of gross domestic product (GDP) that the federal government invested in research and development was approximately 2%. Since then, this share has declined to less than 1%. At the same time, other countries, such as China, have increased their research and development investments as a share of GDP.

In fiscal year 2023, more than half of USF’s research funding, $392 million, was allocated by federal agencies, and there is widespread benefit to those federal investments. According to the NIH, every $1 of its funding generates approximately $2.46 in economic activity. NIH funding supports a wide range of important USF Health initiatives, such as groundbreaking type 1 diabetes research and studies on the impact of sleep on health.

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Of particular importance to USF’s efforts in science and technology is the NSF, which is at the heart of the nation’s scientific research enterprise. Among the $95 million in competitively awarded grants from the NSF that USF has received in recent years is an award of $4.4 million to support our Cybersecurity Research and Education for Service in Government program. This initiative enables USF to recruit, mentor and provide scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students to prepare them for cybersecurity roles in government. It is supported by the federal CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program, which requires scholarship recipients, following graduation, to work in a governmental cybersecurity role for the same duration as their scholarship support.

We also host multiple federally funded projects at our university that are focused on making our coastal communities more resilient to powerful storm surges and sea-level rise — an urgent issue at the national level, but especially for the state of Florida and our Tampa Bay region.

For example, supported by a $20 million grant through the NSF’s Coastlines and People program, a USF-led team of researchers is developing a standardized approach to the protection and replenishment of coral reef and mangrove ecosystems. The program supports efforts to protect the natural, social and economic resources of U.S. coasts and to help create more resilient coastal communities.

There are many more examples of how our dedicated faculty, staff and students are addressing critical challenges. As USF concludes its first year as an AAU member, I look forward to working with our local members of Congress to grow our nation’s investment in research and development and to return a greater share of those federal dollars to our state and region.

Rhea Law is the president of the University of South Florida.